One of the joys of blogging is getting comments from my army of 2-3 faithful readers. Occasionally I get a complaint which happened yesterday – dear friend and Woman of Substance Vickie complained that I hadn’t blogged for 4 days. Make that 5 now Vickie! Seems that I have been “2 busy 2 blog.”
However, as a minor celebrity, I always try to listen to my adoring fan base so I’m making sure that Vickie’s day is complete!
Our San Diego kids – Stacey, Len, and Alex – flew to Kansas City yesterday and we offered to meet their plane. Here was the game plan for the day:
- Meet plane at 4:30
- Drive to the Plaza
- Eat at the Cheesecake Factory (Stacey’s favorite)
- Walk around the Plaza enjoying the Christmas lights
- Arrive home around midnight
Didn’t exactly happen that way! But despite a change in plans, we had a fun day and did get to sleep in our own bed last night – eventually!
We left yesterday morning as our kids were excitedly arriving at the San Diego airport. Since we had several hours to “kill” we opted to eat at Chappell’s Restaurant and Sports Bar in North Kansas City. Burl used to eat lunch there on a regular basis when he worked in K.C. years ago and loves all the sports memorabilia that adorns every wall, ceiling , nook and cranny.
I went to Drury with Jim Chappell and my friend Sally and I affectionately named him “Church”. Sure enough, when we walked in the bar and Church spotted us, I got a big bear hug and we were immediately Church and Keckeley! 
We had a great time catching up on our lives and some mutual friends but more importantly, politics since Church was a delegate to the Republican National Convention this year and is even more conservative than I am. Here’s a photo of us in front of the fireplace in his restaurant. If you look REAL close at the photo, Paul Hornung’s Heisman trophy is on the mantle behind our heads. WOW!
We left Chappell’s and spent some time visiting with a former neighbor of Burl’s as email updates kept coming in from Stacey. Thanks to the wonders of technology we knew they were stranded on the tarmac in San Diego for almost 2 hours, made it to Phoenix where they missed their connecting flight, finally got on a flight to K.C. after a long wait at the ticket counter, ate lunch with their awesome $5 food vouchers…..and settled in for a long layover!
Around 6:00 we headed to the Plaza expecting a long wait at our favorite place, P F Chang’s. Imagine my surprise when I walked into a half-empty restaurant – and Burl easily found a parking spot. Clearly the economic downturn and cold weather were impacting commerce in K.C. last night.
We had a drink and a yummy meal and then walked around a few blocks just to enjoy the beautiful lights which always enchant me and put me in a Christmas mood. 
We were surprised that several stores had closed at 7:00 p.m. a week before Christmas and the horse-drawn carriages were standing idle – clearly not the norm for mid-December.
By now we knew the ETA for our kids was around 11:30 and I knew Burl needed a nap before driving home so we returned to visit our friend and he dozed while I knitted and we watched TV. I’m sure the KC Chamber of Commerce would rather we have greened up their economy but not only are we keeping spending in check but it was too cold to shop - and that’s cold! 15 degrees – BRRRR!
Right on time – 7 hours late – our kids got here and luckily their luggage arrived with them. We did a late-night Wendy’s run to get them soggy, cold fries, hard, over-cooked burgers and drinks and settled in for a foggy drive home.
Arrived around 3:15 a.m. – in bed by 3:20 a.m.
Home safe and sound – that’s all that mattered!
